ISSUE 100
The Iron Ladies
Out filmmaker directs Meryl Streep, who talks gay
Look at that: something Meryl Streep can't do. The recent Golden Globe winner for Best Actress in a Drama, for Iron Lady, is supposed to be the Queen of Can, the thespian superwoman who can effortlessly slip into character: head-turner in Death Becomes Her, doubtful nun, Julia Child (she's so remarkable, in fact, that she can work those chameleon skills within just one movie, as she did with 2003's Angels in America).
She's such a persona-transcendent pro that when she's sitting right in front of you, you're asking yourself: Is that really Meryl Streep? At this point, even Meryl Streep doesn't look like Meryl Streep. Heck, after being so outside herself, does Meryl Streep even know Meryl Streep?
She's the rare actress who never plays herself in a movie. Iron Lady, then, is a made-for-Meryl movie, from the prosthetics icon status of both herself and Margaret Thatcher that afford an uncanny transformation into Britain's first
▲ Meryl Streep, photo by The Weinstein Co.
Nothing can stand in the way of the almighty Meryl Streep except on this particular afternoon. At a New York City hotel, in front of a room full of journalists from mainstream press, she braces herself for what could be the ultimate career challenge. The mission? Answer a "gay" question.
With mock surprise, Streep dramatically throws her arms up and whips back in her chair, pretending it's something she - Oscar winner, recent Kennedy Center honoree, the "devil" herself isn't sure she can pull off.
"OK," she says, sarcastically, "let me get ready. All right, go.
And so we do, citing mentions of the fierce Margaret Thatcher, whom Streep doesn't just play but becomes in The Iron Lady, as a gay icon. So, is she?
Streep deliberates, working out the answer in her head before she lets go of it: "You know, I... I don't know. I just recently found out that I am a gay icon. It's flattering, of course," she says, noting the all-male tribute Streep Tease in West Hollywood (of which she says, "I haven't gotten the nerve to go"). "But I think (Margaret) stirs very strong feelings even today, 20 years after leaving power. And she remains divisive. The film will enter a landscape of a world where she continues to cause controversy. I can't answer the question about whether she's a gay icon. That's a difficult one for me."
GayCalgary Magazine #100, February 2012
that."
female prime minister to the heart that she finds among all that, well, iron.
"The biggest challenge for me was accomplishing the long lines of thought that she would launch into without taking a breath," Streep recalls. "Even with all the drama school that I've had, I had a lot of trouble managing that. Just the galvanizing energy and the drive and the capacity to follow through with a conviction all the way through to the end of your breath until you can't go any further," she says, breathlessly in character, "and not to let anybody interrupt!
"It was masterful the way she could manage these interviews." She lets out a hearty laugh. "I'm taking notes on Thatcher was a strident figure of polarizing effect, a loved- and-hated political icon admired not necessarily for her ideas but for the way she was able to execute them - in the face of class and gender prejudice.
"The array of obstacles that stood before her in England at that time were enormous," Streep notes, "and I think she did a service for our team (women) by getting there - even though you might not agree with the politics. Her determination, her stamina, her courage to take it on. Anybody that stands up and is willing to be a leader, who is as prepared as she was and as smart as she was, is admirable on a certain level, because you really sacrifice a great deal. All of our public figures do."
The film spans three days in Thatcher's post prime, well into her 80s, after dementia wipes out her memories and she tries to capture whichever ones she has left. For as political- minded as she was, the film isn't very political at all. And it wasn't meant to be.
"All of us understood what we were wanting from this piece," Streep says. "It was not going to be chronicling Margaret www.gaycalgary.com